Anti-Glare sunglasses become 'Ray-Bans'

In 1936 Bausch & Lomb were the first to be commissioned to create the aviator sunglasses – which were designed to help against the intense blue and which hues of the sky. They were late trade marked as Ray Bans… the aviators.

During the 1930’s the rise in the power of flight, and the rapid development of military aircraft, allowed pilots to travel faster and higher - but this raised a new problem - a higher level of glare.

This glare was so bad, it created vision problems, headaches and altitude sickness in the pilots, greatly effecting their performance.

When Lieutenant General John McCready became dazzles by the glare in a balloon flight he came up with the concept of a pair of dark glasses which could shield the eyes from the glare, without inhibiting the pilots vision.

He approached Bausch and Lomb and, after a few experiments, they developed the prototype with plastic frames and green lenses in 1937. Thus the aviator sunglasses were born.

Originally called ‘anti'-glare’ glasses, it was soon realised that this was just not a catchy name….. hence they were soon marketed as ‘Ray-Bans’.

By 1937 the plastic frames had been replace by metal ones. and the glasses soon became synonymous with the glamours lifestyle of a military pilot.